Italian Director Alice Rohrwacher To Head Venice Lion Of The Future Jury

TAORMINA, Sicily — Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, recent winner of the Cannes Grand Prix for “The Wonders,” will head of the jury of the Venice Film Festival’s “Luigi De Laurentiis” award for best first work.

Born in 1981 in Fiesole, Tuscany, to an Italian mother and German father, Rohrwacher recently accomplished the rare feat of scooping the second most important prize at Cannes with a sophomore work, her “The Wonders,” an ensemble drama about Italy’s evaporating peasant culture, rooted in rural wisdom. The pic draws from her experience living in the countryside where her father worked as a beekeper. Her sister, Alba Rohrwacher, among Italy’s top young female talents, acts in”The Wonders.”

Alice Rohrwacher’s directorial debut, “Corpo celeste,” premiered in 2011 at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and circulated widely on the fest circuit, including Sundance, New York, London, Rio, and Tokyo.

The jury of Venice’s “Luigi De Laurentiis” prize will have seven members, including a producer. They will pick one film from among all first features in the fest’s various competitive sections, comprising the official selection and also the independantly run Venice Days and Critics’ Week.

Venice’s Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for a first work – has a $100,000 prize, provided by Aurelio e Luigi De Laurentiis’s prominent Filmauro shingle, to be divided equally between the director and the producer. No joint winners are allowed.